Promise of the World [Canaan, Book 1]

Chapter Six || Resolution

The trio strolled briskly on the road to Byar'non. Essairyn twirled a teardrop-shaped, viridescent stone pendant between her fingers. Earlier, she had punctured a tiny hole at the tip of the gem with magic. The string was a tad too thick for her liking, so she unraveled the thread and looped a finer string once through the gem. She didn't want to lose too much of the Ayvirdizite, so even if a single strand wasn't durable enough to last long as a necklace, she had already planned to make the jewel into a long earring once she got ahold of some nice enough metal.

In her other hand, Essairyn snacked on a dark pink apple with pale, chartreuse yellow flesh. She had bought the apples and some peaches that were shaped like small mangoes from the marketplace. She sampled them from one of the stands and was instantly sold on their crisp, exotic flavors.

"Why'd you only buy fruit? Why not bread or meat or something else?" Darren chomped down on a golden mango-peach himself.

"...Meat..." Essairyn's eyes lit up at the thought of a juicy steak fillet. "Well, fruit is hydrating, and there wasn't exactly a water bottle stand around. I'm also trying to conserve the water that I brought from the forest. Eh, we'll make it through somehow."

"Make it through? You have no plan?" Darren incredulously asked with a slightly agape mouthful of red fruit. And all along he had thought that she knew she was doing... A dribble of juice snaked down his chin, and he hastily closed his mouth and wiped it.

"This is an adventure! There's no set plan; it's constantly changing." Essairyn's eyes sparkled as she tilted her head to the skies and lightly pumped her arm holding the apple.

"But... we need water to survive," objected Darren.

Essairyn smirked. "Probably." She hadn't yet told him that her two containers had the best tasting water he'll probably ever drink. At this point, she was beginning to treat them as delicacies rather than necessities. Water anywhere else would likely be plain. Hmm, perhaps I should visit some restaurant and just order water and leave... Would that be too rude? Oof, I guess I should buy at least something. Then I'll have a chance to see what kinds of dishes exist here! She suppressed a rising giggle after she saw Darren's stunned expression.

"Probably?!" He couldn't fathom that Sol'h'meyr would be so different from Earth as to not need water to survive!

"Well, there's no sun." Essairyn casually finished her apple.

"Wai-, what—?!" Darren's eyes shot up to the sky, and he spun around frantically searching for the sun. "There's no sun!" He hadn't even thought to look up since the world was already alight. "Ahh, I thought I had already come to the realization that this was a different world. But I'm still so surprised." He furrowed his brows in a 'huh' look.

Essairyn gave a soft laugh, and Akari just raised a mildly amused eyebrow tuft. "Yes, and watch this." Essairyn suddenly broke away at a breakneck speed while Akari hung on for dear life.

"Hey, where're you going?!" Darren shouted, and he sprinted after the girl who was quickly vanishing from his view. To his astonishment, he accelerated at an anomalous pace. The refreshing air whisked silkily about his face, and he felt freer and more invigorated than ever before. Every bound took him closer to her, and he yelled, "Essairyn! This is amazing!"

The girl turned her body in a sideways run to look back at Darren. "Right?!" She spun on her heel and ran to meet him. A few strides before she reached him, Essairyn leapt into the air above him in a somersault.

"Whoa there!" Darren laughed as he reflexively ducked; even though, she was several feet above his standing height.

Essairyn giggled with giddiness when she lightly landed. "It's incredible, isn't it? We couldn't ever do this on Earth."